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Several drives backed up to one: partition the new one and make bootable?

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I've got drives C-F and a large external backup drive. I'd like to create a backup where the new drive gets partitioned into 4 parts and made bootable. If a major meltdown happens, that one drive can be swapped in for the others - and will be the new C,D,E, and F.

Is this possible to do? If so, how would i go about it?

Note: I've got the add-on, so hopefully i can use the new drive on another system if the mobo goes.

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A full disk backup would be better than making a clone of your drive. While a disk can "hold" only one Clone image, an external drive could hold many full disk backups of various dates. If you ever had a disaster, you could restore from a full disk backup to your system drive.

i've got four drives to backup (there's program files on all of them) Are you saying I can just do a one shot backup of all of them onto the one large drive?

If i have to restore from that, will I need to have four new drives in the system to restore to?

Four physical drives, or four partitions of a single drive?

There's actually three physical drives, one is partitioned into two.
Drive0=C
Drive1=D,E
Drive2=F

Each drive should be backed up separately. But, backup images of all three drives can fit on the one external drive, which does not need to be partitioned to do so. Make a separate folder for each backup task, a seprate task for each disk. Each folder can hold multiple successive backups of the particular disk, from various dates.

The system drive, which is usually C:, should be done as a full disk backup to include all partitions including hidden partitions.

OK - i'll try that. I'm trying to do a full disk backup of drive c onto drive g (the new drive - currently external) It's trying to backup to g:\mybackup and won't allow me to make it bootable. I tried sector by sector mode - which puts it on g:\ however, still won't allow me to make it bootable.

is it possible to be bootable?

1. Windows won't allow you to book from an external USB HD, which is likely why Acronis True Image won't allow you that option.

2. Do not use sector by sector mode. All that will do is make your backups much slower and larger than necessary.

3. You would benefit from reading the manual, and the tutorials linked from the left column of this forum. Here's a good one to start:
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/28705

Alan Weiner wrote:
I've got drives C-F and a large external backup drive. I'd like to create a backup where the new drive gets partitioned into 4 parts and made bootable. If a major meltdown happens, that one drive can be swapped in for the others - and will be the new C,D,E, and F.

Is this possible to do? If so, how would i go about it?

Note: I've got the add-on, so hopefully i can use the new drive on another system if the mobo goes.

If you have the time and want to experiment your project, this is the method I would use. Whether it would be functional when done,. you would have to test it in real time. I am assuming that D, E, F disks are simple data disks and not a dual boot environment and the only Windows installation is on Drive C.
Use TrueImage Bootable media CD to perform the restores. The CD could also be used to perform the Backups if desired.

Part 1:
1. Full disk backups of each of the 4 disks by TrueImage..
2. Remove C and insert the larger blank planned replacement disk inside the computer using same connectors as the old C.
The old Disk Drive C not needed and does not need to be attached.
3. Restore C backup onto the large replacement.
a. The restore would have to be the manual type restore so that you can limit he consumed space to be whatever size you have planned for the revised drive C. or
b. You could do a disk option restore to the replacement and after the restore reduce the size of drive C so a smaller size so you have room for the other drives.

4. Boot the computer and check to make sure C is bootable. If using Windows 7, have the installation or repair disk handy.

Part 2:
1. Use a partition tool (such as Partition Wizard) and create 3 additional partitions for drives D, E, F. Adjust the partition sizes as desired.
The net result would be drive C is installed with 3 additional non-formatted partitions.
2. Restore Drive D backup into the first blank partition. Restore only drive D--not mbr/track0
3. Restore Drive E backup into the 2nd blank partition. Restore only drive E--not mbr/track0
4. Restore Drive F backup into the last blank partition. Restore only drive F--not mbr/track0

Part 3:
Boot and test your installation.
If it works, then the new disk should be interchangeable with the old Drive C.

Part 4:
Possible issues.
1. If the new partitions are smaller than the original, TI may balk at restoring into a smaller area.
2 If the your start menu and registry have programs which link to Drives D, E, F,, they may or may not work--especially if the programs used the disk id of the former disks.
3. You would need a storage area (other than the large usb) for your initial backups so backups would be accessible for restoring.

Whether this would work--maybe yes, maybe no. Only a full complete test would tell for sure.